Text & Context

The Text and Context terms provide a comprehensive, interdisciplinary course that examines literature from Britain and Ireland in the context of the key societal and cultural developments during the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. The dynamic and diverse characteristics of more than one hundred years of English, Irish, and Scottish texts are studied in conjunction with recent developments in literary theory.

Students attend a 1-hour daily lecture given by a guest speaker of established academic reputation, which provides a focused analysis of the critical, theoretical, and historical context of the literature. Following the lecture, students attend a 2-hour seminar and explore the literature through group discussion.

Course modules

Modernism | 8th – 20th July 2019

The Modernism module examines work by, among others, T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf and Jean Rhys and is designed to address the needs of students of all levels who wish to focus on Modernist aesthetics and explore in more detail this historical and cultural period.

Lectures are complimented by visits to the Scottish Parliament, the National Gallery of Modern Art, and much much more!

Students are strongly advised to read as many of the texts as possible before arriving in Edinburgh, as time will be limited once the programme is underway. The lectures will be pitched high, and lecturers are advised that all students will be familiar with the texts at the time of lecture.

Core texts for the Summer School, on which the tuition will be based, are listed below in order of study.

Essential reading:
Selection of imagist poetry*
Ford Madox Ford, The Good Soldier
Katherine Mansfield, Selected Stories**
Mina Loy, selected poetry and The Feminist Manifesto
J.M. Synge, Playboy of the Western World
James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Jean Rhys, Good Morning, Midnight

*NB: Students are not required to purchase specific volumes of poetry – selected poems for the lecture and seminar will be distributed to all students in advance.

**You are not required to read every story in Mansfield’s Selected Stories, although you are certainly welcome to. Your tutor will inform you if they wish you to read specific stories. The stories that will be discussed specifically in lecture will include the following:
‘At the Bay’
‘Prelude’
‘The Voyage’
‘The Garden Party’
‘The Doll’s House’

***Students are not required to purchase or read texts listed in ‘further reading/viewing’. However, if you are interested in complementary material, these texts will expand your knowledge and discussion of the essential reading list. All of the further reading is available to loan from the University of Edinburgh library or the SUISS library.

Contemporary Literature | 22nd July – 3rd August 2019

The Contemporary Literature course covers British and Irish Literature since 1990. Texts include notable works by Vahni Capildeo, Jeanette Winterson, and Ali Smith, among others, as well as a graphic novel.

Activities include a Ceilidh dance and a formal evening reception at the beautiful Playfair Library.

Students are strongly advised to read as many of the texts as possible before arriving in Edinburgh, as time will be limited once the programme is underway. The lectures will be pitched high, and lecturers are advised that all students will be familiar with the texts at the time of lecture.

Core texts for the Summer School, on which the tuition will be based, are listed below in order of study.

Essential reading:
David Greig, Europe
Alan Moore, V for Vendetta
Eimar McBride, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing
Leontia Flynn and Sinéad Morrissey: poetry selection*
Martin McDonagh, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
Ali Smith: selection of short stories*
Kei Miller and Sandeep Parmar: poetry selection*
China Miéville short stories (from Three Moments of an Explosion)

Further reading:**
Ali Smith, How to be Both, Artful and various short stories
A.S. Byatt, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Maggie Gee, The Flood
China Miéville, The City and the City
Identity Parade: Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, ed. Roddy Lumsden
Caryl Phillips, The Nature of Blood
Zadie Smith, White Teeth

*NB: Students are not required to purchase specific volumes of poetry – selected poems for the lecture and seminar will be distributed to all students in advance.
** Students are not required to purchase or read texts listed in ‘further reading/viewing’. However, if you are interested in complementary material, these texts will expand your knowledge and discussion of the essential reading list. All of the further reading is available to loan from the University of Edinburgh library or the SUISS library.

Scottish Literature | 5th – 17th August 2019

The Scottish Literature module spans the twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries, beginning with Scottish Modernism and moving through Post-Modern and Contemporary Scottish Literature. The reading list includes poetry by Hugh MacDiarmid, Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan, plays by John McGrath and Gregory Burke, and fiction by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Muriel Spark and Alasdair Gray. Alan Riach’s publication What Is Scottish Literature offers a concise introduction to everyone curious about this field. Current developments in Scottish Studies can be followed via the University of Glasgow’s publication Bottle Imp.

This exciting course takes place during the Edinburgh festival season, and includes a performance at the Edinburgh International Festival among many other events.

Students are strongly advised to read as many of the texts as possible before arriving in Edinburgh, as time will be limited once the programme is underway. The lectures will be pitched high, and lecturers are advised that all students will be familiar with the texts at the time of lecture.

Core texts for the Summer School, on which the tuition will be based, are listed below in order of study.

Further reading/viewing:**
Alasdair Gray, Lanark
Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting
Iain Banks, The Wasp Factory
James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still
James Hogg, The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

*NB: Students are not required to purchase volumes of poetry – specific reading selections for these lectures and seminars will be circulated to all students in advance. We will also circulate short stories, but if you would like to purchase a collection, we recommend A.L. Kennedy’s What Becomes and Janice Galloway’s Collected Stories.
**Students are not required to purchase or read texts listed in ‘further reading/viewing’. However, if you are interested in complementary material, these texts will expand your knowledge and discussion of the essential reading list. All of the further reading is available to loan from the University of Edinburgh library or the SUISS library.

Shinjini (India)

SUISS learning continues even after the actual summer school is over. SUISS has such a holistic approach that it enables students to acquire knowledge and skills which would be instrumental for the rest of their academic life.

Scottish Universities International Summer School

2015-09-25T12:14:23+00:00

SUISS learning continues even after the actual summer school is over. SUISS has such a holistic approach that it enables students to acquire knowledge and skills which would be instrumental for the rest of their academic life.

http://www.suiss.ed.ac.uk/testimonials/shinjini-india/

Sapphire (USA)

From my room, I was romanced by the spread of sea, and the extensive, beautiful crags of Arthur’s Seat.

Scottish Universities International Summer School

2015-04-10T16:34:35+00:00

From my room, I was romanced by the spread of sea, and the extensive, beautiful crags of Arthur’s Seat.

http://www.suiss.ed.ac.uk/testimonials/sapphire-usa/

Sabine

SUISS has been one of the most wonderful and transformative experiences of my life.

Scottish Universities International Summer School

2015-04-23T19:04:31+00:00

SUISS has been one of the most wonderful and transformative experiences of my life.

http://www.suiss.ed.ac.uk/testimonials/sabine/

Jelena (Croatia)

I learned about Scottish Literature and culture in the most beautiful city in the world!

Scottish Universities International Summer School

2015-04-23T19:05:04+00:00

I learned about Scottish Literature and culture in the most beautiful city in the world!